Evan Dim plays his guitar on a world stage
Niagara musician who performed for Prince Charles was already giving lessons by age 13
Ask Evan Dim to play a complicated piece on his classical guitar and he’s on it — 10 fingers playing a beautiful melody, quickly, precisely.
Ask him how many guitars he owns, and he has to pause.
“Too many,” he laughs, before answering. Eleven.
“This is my nicest one,” he says, gesturing to the one he’s holding. “It’s a Blackwell, it was made in British Columbia. It’s one of the best classical guitars you can buy.”
Guitars have been his heart and soul since he was six years old, growing up in Niagara-onthe-Lake. That’s when his mother noticed he had musical tendencies and brought him to Ryson’s studio in downtown St. Catharines.
He joined his first band when he was eight, and by the time he was 10 he had already shared a stage with Blue Rodeo. The kids’ band he played in, the Golden Hammers, were the opening act.
At 13, he was giving lessons. Now 19, next month he will start his second year in a four-year program studying classical guitar at the Royal Conservatory of Scotland, one of Europe’s most prestigious centres for music, dance and drama.
There, a few months ago, he performed for Prince Charles at an event held to honour the Prince of Wales.
“I was asked. It wasn’t this big competition where the best guitarist gets it,” Dim says. “My teacher said hey, we’ve got something cool for you. So I go to his office and he says, ‘Do you want to play for royalty?’ I was like, yeah.”
It’s actually a bigger deal than he lets on. To even be accepted to study at the conservatory in Glasgow is exceptional. Its president is Sir Cameron Mackintosh, the famed theatre producer. Last year that program took in only three new students — one Scottish player, another from Poland, and Dim.
His break came when during a master class lesson with Matthew McAllister, a world-renowned Scottish guitarist who suggested he apply to the school. Even with at least three more years of schooling ahead of him, Dim is already building his career as a performer and teacher. That means booking concerts in Europe and North America.
After that he will likely live in Europe, where there’s a wider appreciation of and bigger market for classical music.
“There’s a better outlook on music,” he said. “It seems more of a cultural thing. It’s not like, ‘oh we should go see this person, or we should support that person …’ It’s an opportunity.”
In the meantime, he has continued teaching at Ryson’s and is performing around the province, including Niagara wineries.
He can also play bass, drums, trumpet and banjo, so he records songs in a loop, acting as his own backing band. When he’s not playing solo classical guitar, he sings and plays electric backed by his own recorded music.
That’s partly why he has so many guitars — hollow body electric for jazz, other electric guitars for rock and blues, more classical guitars, steel string acoustic.
“I have a recording studio in the basement,” he said. “There’s a large room in my house for all the equipment, and then there’s a larger room attached to that for all the cases.”
He still likes all kinds of music, but at some point early on he got serious about classical. He plays three to six hours each day, every day.
“I just wanted to be able to play something by myself,” he said. “At that age, if I picked up a guitar and someone said ‘play something,’ all I could do was (he strums out a Chuck Berry riff). “I wasn’t really happy with that. I wanted to make people feel something … it’s like, I want to do something more.”
Anne Deyme, who owns Ryson’s United Studio of Music on Court Street in St. Catharines, said Dim is a good example of the success a musician can if they are dedicated, disciplined and passionate.
“I’m going to be 75 years of age. I’ve been in this business for 38 years,” she said. “To me I do not have a job, I have a lifestyle.
“And people like Evan, all those kids, are why we do it.”